The MMR scare was the result of a 'deliberate fraud' by Andrew Wakefield, the
British Medical Journal has concluded and argues it was a 'hoax'.

The now infamous 1998 research paper in The Lancet medical journal linked the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to a new combined disorder of bowel problems and autism.

Public confidence in the jab collapsed but last year Wakefield was struck off the medical register with the panel saying he was callous and dishonest.

The British Medical Journal has reviewed the six million word transcript of the General Medical Council hearings, comparing them with the findings of investigative journalist Brian Deer and the research paper in the Lancet.

Huge discrepancies have been found between what was in the children's medical notes and what was published about them in the Lancet.

As a result, Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor of the BMJ, has accused Dr Wakefield of deliberate fraud and said the scare was a hoax on the scale of the Pildown man, which was for 40 years believed to have been the missing evolutionary link between ape and man.

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She said: "The MMR scare was based not on bad science but on a deliberate fraud." She added that such “clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare.”

Other journals have printed letters and extracts from Wakefield and Dr Godlee has called for investigations into these, in case others need to be retracted as the original Lancet paper has been.

In an editorial, Dr Godlee, together with deputy BMJ editor Jane Smith, and leading paediatrician and associate BMJ editor Harvey Marcovitch, said there is “no doubt” that it was Wakefield who perpetrated this fraud.

They said: “A great deal of thought and effort must have gone into drafting the paper to achieve the results he wanted: the discrepancies all led in one direction; misreporting was gross.”

The Lancet paper claimed that 12 children were referred as consecutive cases to the Royal Free Hospital in London with symptoms of a 'new syndrome' described as enterocolitis and regressive autism and that these symptoms occurred after vaccination with the MMR jab.

However Brian Deer and the BMJ team found that:

– only one child clearly had regressive autism and three did not have autism at all

– five children had concerns recorded about their development on their records predating MMR vaccination

– claims that the symptoms appeared days after vaccination were found to be wrong and in some cases these started months later.

– nine children had normal test results from their bowel but this was changed to 'non-specific colitis'

– some patients were recruited through anti-MMR campaigners and the study was commissioned and funded as part of planned litigation against the jab's manufacturer.

Dr Godlee said in the BMJ: "Science is based on trust.

"Such a breach of trust is deeply shocking. And even though almost certainly rare on this scale, it raises important questions about how this could happen, what could have been done to uncover it earlier, what further inquiry is now needed, and what can be done to prevent something like this happening again.”